Bonas Defeat (lower) Gorge (3-6-16)

A trip through the infamous Bonas Defeat Gorge has been sitting at or near the top of my 'Must-Do-Hikes' List for quite some time now. Its not that far from my house (perhaps 20 minutes) and the would-be route isn't all that long (say, 6-ish miles). What had kept me away thus far was Bonus Defeat's fearsome reputation. Speak of Bonas with hikers in the know and the tone often gets hushed and tinged with a bit of anxiety/excitement. The gorge itself is located just to the north of Lake Toxaway and is formed by the Tuckasegee River as it drains from the dammed Tanasee Creek Lake above. At around 500-feet in depth Bonas isn't a monster gorge but it is, regardless, still generally acknowledged to be home to some of the roughest terrain in the area, if not the entire region. Also, did I mention there's no official trail through it? Any would-be explorers to Bonas need to be comfortable with bushwhacking, wading rivers, and scrambling over and around boulders the size of small houses. Sound like fun? Yeah...I thought so too!!

It's no secret that much of the time I undertake my hiking adventures solo. I know, I know its always safer to have a partner...but I really cherish the solitude of going off in the woods on my own, left to my own decisions and skill to complete whatever plan I have come up with that day. Over the years I have become quite comfortable with solo hiking. I feel my wilderness knowledge is such that, given a crises in the woods, I would in most cases be able to extricate myself from the situation or survive until help arrived. Even so, there are places I WILL NOT GO...usually in places that involve high accident risks combined with remoteness that would prevent help from arriving, if it ever did. Needless to say, Bonas Defeat Gorge qualifies on both accounts. So, for the last couple years Bonus Defeat has been tantalizing me, tempting me, to damn the risks and come on out for a look. I resisted for two years. Then I was offered a free, 50-degree-blue-sky Saturday and my will power collapsed. I could wait no longer, I was going to Bonus Defeat Gorge.

I first made a promise to myself that this would be purely be a reconnaissance-type hike. No pre-determined goals for which I might feel bad if left incomplete, and NO TAKING UNNECESSARY RISKS because there would be opportunity in the future to come back with partners offering and extra degree of safety. My plan was this...I would access the gorge from the Nantahala National Forest--Grays Ridge Access Point just off NC-281 north of Lake Toxaway. From there I would descend to the banks of the Tuckasegee River and simply follow the river upstream into the gorge as far as good sense would allow. Like I stated earlier, much of the route I took this day (with the exception of the trail down to the river) involved bushwhacking, stream-walking, a good deal of scrambling, and traversing of high exposed ledges. I'm not one to usually puff my chest but I can say unequivocally that this is anEXPERT ONLY trek. A fall from any of the ledges in the inner gorge likely means death or at the very least a very, very, very long wait for help (I didn't see a single other person the day I went).

So, all that said this was a pretty successful first-attempt at exploring Bonas Defeat Gorge. I certainly learned quite a bit about what the terrain is like (just as gnarly as I was led to believe!). Unfortunately I wasn't able to traverse the entire length of the gorge on this trip. Only the lower half of the gorge. You ever heard the phrase 'caught between a rock and a hard place'? Well, as you'll see in the album that's exactly where I ended up. I'll just let the pictures speak for me...

Bonas Defeat Gorge (lower), Jackson County (3-6-16)

I was actually surprised at two things upon reaching the trailhead. One, that there was an actual parking area and sign...second, that I wasn't the only car here...

Grays Ridge Access Trail

My plan was to follow the 'trail' from the parking area down to the river beneath the gorge and then hike upstream into it, ad-libbing my route as needed. I was happy to discover the route in would as least start easy enough...

Grays Ridge Access Trail

It was nice to discover I wouldn't have to also fight my way down to the entrance of the gorge. This gated access road was a pleasant way to start things off, at least for the first mile...

Grays Ridge Access Trail

The road wound quite steeply down to the river, descending some 500' in around 3/4-mile...

Grays Ridge Access Trail

Before long I had bottomed out and I found myself along the placid waters of the Tuckasegee River...

Grays Ridge Access Trail

Apparently this is a popular enough access point for anglers that the USFS has seen fit to erect two nice picnic pavilions along the river...

Grays Ridge Access Trail

The maintained route ended where the road took a hard right to cross a private steel bridge. From here on in I'd be making my own route...

Wolf Creek Powerhouse

My first obstacle on this hike would be a man-made one...the powerhouse at the confluence of Wolf Creek and the Tuckasegee. I needed to find a way around...

Tuckasegee River

The Tuckasegee flows pristine-ly green below the powerhouse...

Tuckasegee River

Standing on the bank of the river below the powerhouse and looking across the waters of the Tuckasegee flow quite calmly considering what they are like just upstream...

Wolf Creek

My route around the powerhouse took me upstream a few hundred yards along Wolf Creek. I followed a faint path to where it disappeared at a shallow shoal where I decided I could make a dry crossing...

Wolf Creek Powerhouse

After crossing the creek and scrambling up the far bank through a tangle of rhododendron I emerged underneath the huge water pipe above the powerhouse...

Wolf Creek Powerhouse Road

Scrambling down to the access road for the powerhouse it was time to get the real fun started...

Tuckasegee River @ Wolf Creek

I was hoping to find at least a faint trail leading along the bank of the Tuckasegee into the gorge but for the life of me couldn't find one. Rather than fight the underbrush I decided it would be easier to simply rock-hop up the river as far as I could...

Tuckasegee River

There's something immensely enjoyable about walking up a river...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Well, the stream walk ended here...I was completely taken by the serene beauty of this crystal-clear pool...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Hopping the rocks along the shore, looking back on the pool in the previous shot...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Passing this dire warning sign I officially considered myself to be entering Bonas Defeat Gorge proper...

Bypass Ledge

I found it appropriate to begin my entry to the gorge by a bit of low-crawl scrambling...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

As if to give me some additional proof of what this tiny stream once was (and can still become), a giant two-foot diameter log with its bark stripped off sits wedged against a rock ledge...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Ah, yes...the fun begins...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

After navigating the previously-pictured boulders I arrived at yet another beautiful green pool...

Bonas Defeat Potholes

Huge potholes mark the ledges just above the pool...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

This...could be a problem. There was no way I was going to be able to cross this...it was time to find an alternate route...

Bonas Defeat Potholes

Stagnant water fills another pair of potholes near where I was standing in the previous shot...

Bushwhack Bypass

The only way around the narrows in the previous photos was to head up the steep hillside above the river. A faint path through the laurel could just barely be made out telling me I wasn't the only one to have been forced to take this course of action...

Bushwhack Bypass

High above the river now, I was past the narrow gorge that had forced me up here so now I looked for a way back down to the stream bed...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Back out on the open ledges I now had the opportunity to enjoy some more rock-hopping and scrambling. This was a particularly impressive stretch...if you look close you can see more huge potholes bored into the rocks...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge Vid

This was a particularly incredible spot, so I decided to give you a 'live' look...

Bonus Defeat Potholes

Rock & water art, Bonas Defeat style...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Working my way slowly upstream I was forced across the Tuckasegee and then back into it for a brief time...

The Beach

Getting sand in my boots wasn't an experience I was expecting to have in Bonas Defeat...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

The next pool I came to had some incredible 'rock art' visible beneath the waters of the river...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

A twenty-foot wide and very deep pothole carved beneath the pool in the previous shot. What kind of power must it take to create something like this?!?!...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Another brief look downstream from above the pool in the previous shots...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Things were starting to get gnarly again at this point...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

"OK, this is going to take some time," I thought to myself upon topping a ledge and seeing this terrain upstream from me...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

"Be smart, 3-points of contact, can I get back down if I need to, be smart..." These were all things running on a loop through my mind as I navigated the increasingly boulder-strewn gorge. I had a nagging feeling that I was nearing a point where I might not be able to wisely continue...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Here was the point it became clear the jig was up...there were no clear routes to be seen here that I felt comfortable taking. A fall from any of these house-size boulders would likely be fatal, and if not help would be a looooong time in coming...

Lower Bonas Defeat Gorge

Reluctant to concede defeat, before even reaching the inner gorge, I plopped down atop a high ledge and took some time to survey the terrain around me a bit closer. A bit of perspective...that large boulder to the right is the size of a two-story house! I could almost convince myself that one route to the right of the large boulder, ascending a steepish-slab up underneath it, might be a possibility for passage. The cost of failure was too great though and I had to fight the urge to try. Live to fight another day...

Exit Bushwhack

Discretion being the better part of valor and all I turned my back on the gorge and set my attention on a direct climb up the ridge from the river. I knew from my map that the road down to the powerhouse was somewhere above me and that, even with a short bushwhack, it would offer an easier (and safer!) walk than making my way back down the river...

Exit Bushwhack

Thankfully the understory was quite open for much of my climb up the ridge so even though it was incredibly steep (on the order of 400-feet in a quarter mile!) I didn't have to go to war with any briers...

Wolf Creek Powerhouse Road

Though I didn't know exactly where I was along the road, I knew I had to head left and downhill to get back to the powerhouse...

Wolf Creek Powerhouse Road

It took my feet and legs to get used to smooth terrain again but the road offered quick travel back. Before long I was alongside the large water tube and, a few corners later, the powerhouse itself...

Tuckasegee River

This was a hike that demanded a bit of reflection and unwinding at the end and a nice warm rock along the banks of the Tuckasegee offered a nice place to do so. Though disappointed I didn't get through the entire gorge I was pleased with myself for making the wise choice of calling things off before I put myself in true danger. I SHALL RETURN!!! Next time with a partner or two and some rope!!!